Sunday, May 30, 2010

It's that time of year again when everyone is busy with end-of-school activities and of course, graduation. Whether your children or loved ones are graduating from kindergarten, elementary school, high school, or college-it's a cause for celebration!

Here are 2 sample cards and a tag to get your creativity flowing. They are crafted primarily out of cardstock and CJ Style paper-so it's easy and economical to make multiples of them. Working with these basic designs, use whatever letter stickers or rub-ons that you have handy to craft your own graduation cards. This simple-to-craft graduation card was created using the CJ Style Hannukah paper and DCWV heavy cardstock and some AC alpha stickers and a K&Co. rub-on. The min-dot Hannukah borders adds a layer of trim under the white cardstock. Cutting one edge with a scalloped scissor adds a nice touch.

This pretty-in-pink card was accented with a polka dot tag from the Passover collection- graphic border strip was layered in the center to cover the Passover saying. K&Co. letters and mini bird add a whimsical touch.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

I'm so excited to be designed for Crafting Jewish Style. Let me introduce myself, I live in New Jersey with my husband and 2 sons, ages 6 and 8. As a family, we love travel, reading, and sports. We keep kosher and try to maintain a Jewish lifestyle in a world full of food allergies and public schools. We took our children to Israel 2 years ago and are committed to visiting again every few years.

We moved from Pennsylvania into our current home 2 years ago. I started a new family scrapbook when we moved into the new home. I've been looking for just the right paper to scrap our first day in the new home, which is the first page in that album. These Hanukkah papers were just perfect for this photo!Thanks for looking!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Shavuot is just around the corner and we have some wonderful ideas, from the book Crafting Jewish, to make your holiday just beautiful.

Shavuot Dairy Dessert DisplayI love Shavuot morning; everyone gets up late after a long night spent learning Torah in shul. We usually eat a dairy Yom Tov meal in the early afternoon and then invite several neighbors for dessert.Since flowers are a dominant theme of Shavuot, decorating the table will be a cinch — just put out all your flower bouquets and use extra vases and flowerpots as serving pieces and catch-alls. For added drama, before Yom Tov, craft some huge tissue-paper flowers and place them into a tall vase in the center of the table — you can also make some small ones to decorate the chairs.

Set up:All the cakes and pies on this dessert menu are baked in advance. Just pop them out of the fridge and freezer and set them out on platters and cake plates; everyone will be thrilled with the effort you’ve put into setting it up.Before the meal, set a separate dessert table in the dining room or in a room adjacent to the dining room. Lay the tablecloth and set out the platters and cake plates. Add cups and napkins, placing dessert forks and spoons into small flower vases or flower pots. Intersperse small flower bouquets between the serving dishes.

This no-bake cheesecake is my family’s favorite Shavuot dessert because it tastes like ice cream and cheesecake mixed together. Who could think of a better combination? You can bake the crust yourself or save time by using a purchased graham-cracker pie crust and skip steps 1 – 6.

2. Place the graham crackers in the food processor and blend on high until finely ground. Or, place graham crackers into a heavy-duty ziplock bag and crush with a rolling pin.

3. Place the graham cracker crumbs into the large bowl. Add the softened butter.

4. Mix the butter and graham cracker crumbs with a spoon (or rub together with your fingers) until combined.

5. Press the graham cracker mixture into the bottom and up the side of the pie pan or tart pan.

6. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the pie shell from the oven and let cool.

7. Place whipped cream cheese, farmer's cheese, yogurt, sugar, and vanilla sugar into the mixer bowl. Beat at low speed until all ingredients are combined. Increase speed to high and beat until the mixture is smooth and fluffy.

8. Pour the mixture into the prepared or purchased pie crust and smooth with the spatula.

9. Cover with aluminum foil and freeze until firm.

10. Remove the pie from the freezer and thaw for one hour before serving.

11. Wash the strawberries well and cut off the green tops.

12. Slice the strawberries and arrange the slices around the top of the cheesecake. You can use other fruits or berries of your choice.

Estimated prep time: 1 hour plus freeze time

Baking time: 10 minutes Dairy • Yield: 8 servings

Decorate your home with a beautiful flower topiary.A topiary is a bush or tree that is sculpted, cut, and/or trained to grow into a specific shape. This arrangement mimics the art of true topiaries by forming a silk flower bush into a rounded shape.

How to do it:1. Place the piece of Styrofoam into the flower pot. Trim the Styrofoam if necessary (it should not stick out of the pot). Set aside.2. Take the flower bush and grasp all the branches, holding them tightly together. Fasten a twist tie tightly around the branches directly under the flowers. If necessary, fasten the other twist tie around the middle of the stems to keep them together. This will form the topiary's stem.3. Bend the stems until the flowers form a rounded shape.4. Use the glue gun and glue sticks to attach the ribbon or floral tape to the top of the stem, just under the flowers. Wind the ribbon around the stem, completely covering the twist ties. Hot glue the ribbon to the bottom of the stem and trim the excess ribbon, if necessary.5. Poke the stem through the center of the Styrofoam in the flower pot. Push down on the stem so that it reaches deep into the pot. Glue it into place if it feels wobbly.6. Spread the craft glue over the Styrofoam and place clumps of Spanish moss on the wet glue to completely cover the Styrofoam.7. Tie a ribbon into a bow around the center of the stem.Estimated time: 20 minutes

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Hi to everyone! I am a mother to 6 girls and 1 boy. They are my greatest joys and I look forward to sharing my scrapbooking with all you wonderful scrappers. Hopefully, we will learn from each other as we embark on this journey of crafting JEWISH style.......

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Crafting Jewish Style has recently formed a design team. Over the next few weeks, we'll be bringing you all kinds of projects both Jewish and secular, created by this very talented group. Today we'd like to introduce you to Nili. She lives in the Netherlands with her husband and their 4 children.

This layout was created using paper and stickers (see the tag below the title?) from the Hanukkah line. Don't you just love Nili's use of paint and a Hambly transparency? Great ideas!You can learn more about Nili on her blog.

Over the next few weeks you'll see some changes on the CJ Style blog. For one thing, you'll see more of me (Carly). As the newly appointed blog coordinator, I'll be working with our team to update the look and feel of the blog and add new features and content areas. In June we'll be introducing new monthly topics hosted by members of our design team and guests. We are very excited, and we hope you'll like what you see. Please leave us a comment letting us know what you think and if there is anything special you'd like to see here.